One hundred and fifty people have marched in Te Anau to protest the Department of Conservation's use of 1080 near public tracks and walkways.
The group marched along the lakefront carrying placards and chanting “1080 kills” as they handed a list of questions to DOC workers.
Tempers flared when locals found the poisonous pellets in the Supply Bay Area, on the edge of the upper Waiau River.
Protesters fear the poison has also ended up in walkways and say it could kill pets or even small children.
Protesters against 1080 (Thomas Mead/Newshub.)
DOC admits a helicopter pilot accidentally dropped around 200 pellets, but suggests others may have been maliciously planted.
“It was hard to determine what had actually taken place. We investigated it thoroughly,” said Greg Lind, Department of Conservation operations manager for Te Anau.
“The company that’s involved in terms of the helicopter work has looked at the machinery and cannot find any reason why there would be that sort of distribution.”
The poison was dropped as part of the country's largest ever 1080 campaign, covering 720,000 hectares of land in an attempt to save native birds.
Nineteen sites around the country are being targeted, with pest control work in Fiordland National Park aimed at protecting native wildlife from rats and stoat.
The Te Anau campaign is part of a nationwide day of protests against 1080.
Newshub.
